E Pluribus Unum
by Sharidwen
Summary: Basically it's another "young Snape at school"-fic. Severus meeting friends, dealing with foes, observing his fellows. And, yeah, he's got that voice-obession


Disclaimer: Everything here belongs to J.K Rowling and whomever she sold the rights to.  
  
Author's Note: Originally this was supposed to be Lucius/Severus.. but somehow it isn't.perhaps it will be in later chapters? Well, I MENTIONED Lucius ^___^, that's pretty good, huh? Oh yeah, and I changed the fact that Severus was a lonely and emotionally neglected teenager. He has friends.strange friends.. but that's something *nod*.. okay, maybe he's still emotionally neglected.^^°  
  
~*~  
  
Later on, people tended to say that when Severus Snape entered the stage on his way to the sorting hat he became the centre of attention. But in the strict sense no one noticed him more on that occasion, than they had before. Not more hands than those of the Slytherin table rose to give a polite applause while the skinny boy descended wooden steps to place himself at the end of the table next to other children his age, those either cowering on their chairs, frightened by the masses of black-clad figures around them, or boasting broadly, captured in the impeccable sense of superiority taught to them from earliest childhood on. Severus Snape wasn't boasting.  
  
Later the night whispering, giggling or silently wincing children were led up into the towers and deep into the dungeons. Granite steps slick with moss and mildew surrounded by granite walls emitting coldness creeping up under robes and uniforms.  
  
"Don't get lost. And if you do, at least try to be found."  
  
Having scraped on the greenish mildew with a slightly too long fingernail, Severus Snape looked up to find the owner of the voice, still in boyish heights but already promising to be deep and warm in the future. Not warm though, Severus corrected himself. Not warm, pleasant to listen to perhaps, but not warm.  
  
After being roughly pushed forward, towards the rest of the group, Severus decided that he was indeed very satisfied with his newfound choice of words. The tall blonde behind him sighed audibly, exaggerated and horribly acted, raking a hand through his hair.  
  
"Dearest kid, even though our beautiful surroundings seem to hold a certain appeal for you, I'd really appreciate it if you would just move onwards. Would you?"  
  
Shooting glances out of black eyes Severus closed the gap between himself and the other kids, waiting for the door of the Common Room to open. Later he would recognize that he hadn't even the slightest idea of the password, only regretting this while having to spend two hours in the cold damp hallway. Names were called from a list and upon hearing his name Severus Snape followed three other boys even deeper some steps into a large, but seemingly uncomfortable room. Beds enclosed by green curtains lined grey walls. No windows enlightened the room (which they wouldn't have anyway, since it was late in the evening), green light bulbs emitting a sickly greenish light that gave the three boys that were still standing in the hallway an ill appearance. Silently Severus pushed past the other and dropped down on one bed standing in the furthest corner of the room. Not sparing a second he closed the curtains around his bed and leaned back.  
  
"My name is Rosier. Evan. Rosier." Timid voice, unmistakably belonging to a young boy, pitched even higher with a barely suppressed tremble.  
  
"I'm Wilkes." Strong, confident. Severus labelled him as an only child immediately. But on the other hand he supposed that most of them were without siblings, since it wasn't unusual that the kind of parents that produced typical Slytherins held no interested in spreading their genetic material further after having given birth to an heir. Severus estimated that about 10% of all children in his house had an older or younger brother. If any. Sisters were more common since those didn't pass on the family name.  
  
"Rodolphus Lestrange. My whole family was Slytherin, too." Ooh, smart kid. Did he think any of their parents weren't? Apart from those who had went to one of the other Schools, of course.  
  
Silence followed.  
  
"And your name is? If you don't mind telling us. Don't ever feel bothered." Darkness vanished into oblivion as Lestrange drew open the curtains and filled the area surrounding him with green light.  
  
Severus held his eyes closed and didn't move a centimetre in the ill hope that Lestrange might get bored and give up. To his despair he felt a weight pressing down on his bed and was greeted with the impact of a sharp elbow to his skinny ribs. The other boy shifted around, elbowing and kicking Severus further until he found a position, which he obviously decided to be comfortable. Only it included his arm draped over Severus Snape's face.  
  
"Severus." Calm, steady, quiet voice.  
  
"Well, now that something to begin with. Let's proceed to your last name then."  
  
Silence. The arm moving down to his throat, pressing down, choking him slightly.  
  
"Snape. S'rus Snape."  
  
Air, again. And a smiling Lestrange. He patted him on the shoulder.  
  
"See, wasn't so bad now, was it?" He received a death glare from black eyes, commenting it with a broad smile, showing white teeth, cocking his head slightly to draw a curtain of fine black hair over blue eyes.  
  
Severus elbowed him, throwing him out of his bed. Annoyed, mostly with himself for not being able to hold back the little smile creeping up in the corners of his mouth.  
  
*********  
  
"A Manticore bears the body of a goat, a lion's paws, a human face and a scorpion's tail. Its first appearance is mentioned by Greek authors and supposedly it is an remote relative of the Sphinx." Severus Snape sat back down on the chair, acknowledging the praising smile the teacher gave him with a quick nod. As soon as their professor turned his attention back to books and boards, Severus received the by now well-known elbow to his ribs. "How do you know theses stuff? I'd have sworn Manticore is something you get to eat in India." Silently Severus wondered why the other boy had chosen to insist on befriending him. Even though he found the presence of the other boys around him quite pleasant, he surely started to get annoyed with the load of haematomas he had received lately.  
  
"Read about it." Low chuckle next to him. Yeah, funny you moron. Bet you can't read your own name, let alone write it. That he bore their presence didn't mean he approved of it.  
  
"Yuck, hope you didn't take a book from the library. They wouldn't be able to separate the pages anymore once they'd gotten glued to each other after making contact with your nose." Black. Idiot. Thought himself so funny. Pitiful, really. Nevertheless annoying and therefore not to be tolerated.  
  
Without looking up Severus took his wand out of his schoolbag and pointed it unnoticed towards Black who had turned his attention back, after having been ignored. A slow flick of wood, a whispered word and small orange flames ate their way up Black's coat. Too small to do harm, too weak to be noticed by everyone, but still most annoying.  
  
"I'll bet a galleon that he won't notice it before it reaches his hair." Wilkes next to them snickered; Rosier buried himself deeper into his book, trying hard to suppress his smile, while Lestrange did a very poor job restraining his laughter. Severus himself started scribbling down notes on his parchment in order to fulfil their task.  
  
"Yo, if you want to loose your money so soon, why don't you just hand it over the~AAAH!" Having turned round again Black finally noticed the orange flames in his back, jumped up, throwing over his chair and stood shaking with rage in the middle of the classroom.  
  
He turned to Snape and lunged forward, grabbing him on the collar, shaking him. "You little bastard. I swear, one of those days."  
  
"Mister Black, Mister Snape, may I interrupt you? Fill me in then." The professor pulled Black away from him, holding him at arm's length. "That bastard set fire to my coat. He nearly burned me!"  
  
The professor looked over to the calm Slytherin, watching them with mild interest. Of course he noticed the highly amused children with the green ties around him.  
  
"I'm afraid as long as you didn't see anything directly, Mister Snape is freed of all charges."  
  
Fuming, Black grabbed his coat and held it up. "What about this, then? So where did the holes come from then?"  
  
" Moths. I suppose." Still watching with interest, not blinking an eye as Black lunged forward again to push him to the ground and was restrained again by the professor and several of his friends.  
  
~*~  
  
Author's Note: So, any good? I know, Sevy's got that strange voice- obsession ^^° Let me know if you liked it and I'll love you forever. Okay, maybe I won't love you, but I'll be very, very thankful *purr* (/last bit of dignity in the back of my mind/: Ouch..) 


End file.
